Bumphead Parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) observations at Ningaloo Reef, Australia (2008-2021)

Damian Thomson; Anna Creswell; Christopher Doropoulos; Michael Haywood; Melanie Orr; Andrew Hoey

doi:10.3390/fishes6040073+

Bumphead Parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) observations at Ningaloo Reef, Australia (2008-2021)

Citation

Thomson, D.P.; Cresswell, A.K.; Doropoulos, C.; Haywood, M.D.E.; Orr, M.; Hoey, A.S. Hidden Giants: The Story of Bolbometopon muricatum at Ningaloo Reef. Fishes 2021, 6, 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes6040073 accessed via GBIF.org on 2025-06-12.

Description

Bolbometopon muricatum (bumphead parrotfish, Valenciennes, 1839) is a conspicuous, iconic and ecologically important coral reef fish species. B. muricatum plays an important role in the bioerosion of the reef framework and as a result has been described as both an ecosystem engineer and keystone species. Despite the complete absence of B. muricatum from 32 years of scientific surveys across the Ningaloo ReefWorld Heritage Area, the authors recorded a total of 155 individuals of B. muricatum across 63.2 ha of reef crest surveys, equating to mean density of 2.38 ind/ha

Taxonomic Coverages

Bolbometopon muricatum
common name: bumphead parrotfish rank: species

Geographic Coverages

Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia -23.6395 to -21.8578 Longitude: 113.6017 to 113.9810

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

Damian Thomson
originator
position: Principal Investigator
CSIRO Environment
Crawley
6009
Western Australia
AU
email: Damian.Thomson@csiro.au
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5485-1562

Anna Creswell
originator
position: Investigator
Australian Institute of Marine Science
Townsville
4811
Queensland
AU

Christopher Doropoulos
originator
position: Investigator
CSIRO Environment
AU

Michael Haywood
originator
position: Investigator
CSIRO Environment
AU

Melanie Orr
originator
position: Investigator
CSIRO Environment
AU

Andrew Hoey
originator
position: Investigator
James Cook University
AU

Damian Thomson
metadata author
position: Principal Investigator
CSIRO Environment
Crawley
6009
Western Australia
AU
email: Damian.Thomson@csiro.au
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5485-1562

OBIS Australia Node manager
publisher
position: OBIS Australia Data Manager
CSIRO National Collections and Marine Infrastructure Data Centre
Castray Esplande
Hobart
7000
Tasmania
AU
email: obisau@csiro.au
homepage: http://www.obis.org.au

Damian Thomson
administrative point of contact
position: Principal Investigator
CSIRO Environment
Crawley
6009
Western Australia
AU
email: Damian.Thomson@csiro.au
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5485-1562